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Pakistan ka matlab kia?

“Pakistan ka matlab kia?” (What does Pakistan mean?) No, I am not talking about a national song here. What we must be worried about is the fact that what does “Pakistan” means to the citizens of this country.

Though the question asked is subjective and the answer may differ if asked different individuals. But somehow all the people that this question was directed towards had more or less the same answer to it (me included).

For many Pakistan is a place they call home. They not simply call it a home because they happen to have a Pakistani passport but because they say that within the boundaries of their homeland they get this feeling of security (irrespective of what the world has to say about the security issues prevailing in our country). They feel that they are loved and looked after with care. People who happen to reside in foreign territories (for many different reasons) always feel this need to be back home, back in Pakistan. The reason being that whatever place they may reside in, whatever luxuries they may be provided with; a home is still a shelter which nothing can replace.

The other reply which one may hear to this question is “Pakistan is my identity – whatever I am, I am because of my country”. These are the people who have experienced an attachment with the country so strong that they think of Pakistan and themselves as one single existence; therefore the nation is their identity and they are the pride of their nation. These people may not have done something that would have gotten them fame across the world but these are those individuals of our beloved country who feel the need to bring about positive changes wherever they feel there is a need and they are capable enough.
The ideology these people follow is that whatever they do is eventually going to brighten up their own identity because a deed once done has magnified results down the line.

There are a few lines that I have heard many a times which I would like to state in here, (these words are in Urdu and I am writing them as I heard them “hub-ul-watni tab hi hoti hai jab pait main roti hoti hai! Warna kaisa muk aur kaunsa mulk!”

I disagree with it and I believe many would agree with me. As a reason I would like to narrate an incident that I witnessed.

This incident took place on the 16th of August. It was a very sunny day and I was sweating while I walked home. I have a habit of reading every board that comes into my line of sight. That day I was doing the exact same thing. While crossing the street, I saw a boy of around 10 picking up something from the street at every few steps. This boy’s clothes, and hair were way too dirty and he looked hungry. One could not help but sympathize with this little boy. The first thought that hit me was that the boy was looking for left-overs someone may have thrown but then I happened to know that nobody threw food out there. I looked closer at to what he was holding in his hands and to my astonishment that little boy (who may not have had anything to eat for a day or too) was picking up the fallen flags and buntings that were put up for the Independence day!

Though that boy was a nobody, at that moment to me he looked like the one who cared about his country more than what he cared about himself.

The lines that I have been hearing since childhood (mentioned previously) were mere words because that boy is living proof that riches and rags are never part of the equation where it comes to the homeland!

To feel what these individuals have felt for their nation, you need to rise from being a Bengali or a Baloch and be a Pakistani. The Pakistan I am talking about is of Pakistanis and not of Sindhis, Balochs, etc